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Louisiana Amendment Two would give local taxing bodies more flexibility over tax rates
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BATON ROUGE - Voters in the November election will cast their votes on proposed constitutional amendments, including one that would change taxing bodies' timelines for raising and lowering taxes.
As previously reported, the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, or PAR, released a guide to the 2026 Fall Constitutional Amendments last week.
Voters will be asked, “Do you support an amendment to allow a local taxing authority to continue to levy a lower millage rate without losing its ability to adjust to the maximum authorized millage rate from a prior year’s reassessment?”
PAR says supporters of Amendment Two would vote to give local taxing bodies like cities, school systems and fire departments more flexibility when those groups want to adjust millage rates.
Every four years, tax assessors across the state must reappraise property.
"The way the Constitution is set up is that during that reassessment period, you have to lower or roll back the millage so you're not making additional money. That all happens automatically," PAR President Steven Procopio said.
But taxing authorities can bump up the millage rate, or roll it forward, with a two-thirds vote.
"If you don't roll forward, at the end of that four-year period, you lose the ability to roll forward again. If you had nine mills and you rolled back to eight, once that four-year reassessment period is gone, you can never go back to nine. Eight is now your new cap," Procopio said.
Amendment Two would allow authorities to raise or lower the tax at any time during the lifespan of the property tax.
"It allows them the flexibility of, 'No, you don't have to roll forward right now. You will have the ability to do that in the future.' So, they don't feel the need to roll up the taxes," Procopio said.
If approved, the amendment would go into effect Jan. 1, 2027.
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